Dad was a veteran &#8211; of the Civil War

Daughter one of few alive whose fathers served

Stella Mae Case,
90, displayed a
biography of her
father, John
Harwood Pierce,
and other
memorabilia at
her Rancho San
Diego home.
Pierce, a veteran
of the Civil War
who led an
unusual life
spanning five
marriages and
several
professions, was
70 when Case
was born. (Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune)

Stella Mae Case,
90, displayed a
biography of her
father, John
Harwood Pierce,
and other
memorabilia at
her Rancho San
Diego home.
Pierce, a veteran
of the Civil War
who led an
unusual life
spanning five
marriages and
several
professions, was
70 when Case
was born. (Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune)

CIVIL WAR BY THE NUMBERS

100 Estimated number of “real” daughters and sons of the Civil War still living

90 Age of local daughter,
Stella Mae Case

70 Age of Stella's father
when she was born

0 Number of Civil War widows still alive. Last known one, Alberta Martin, 97, died in 2004.

SOURCES: Sons and Daughters of Union Veterans; Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy

John Harwood Pierce was born in 1848 on Feb. 29, leap day, an unusual start to an unusual life.

Soldier, poet, inventor, publisher, showman – he left a legacy that amuses his family when it isn't flummoxing them.

“I think I must have realized even at a young age that he was quite a character,” said his 90-year-old daughter, Stella Mae Case, who lives in Rancho San Diego.

She is a big part of the legacy, one of only a sprinkling of people still alive in the United States whose fathers fought in the Civil War.

Yes, the Civil War. Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, Sherman and the March to the Sea, Grant and Lee at Appomattox. Ancient history to most of us.

The war ended in April 1865, almost 144 years ago. Anyone doing the math might guess Pierce was well along in years when Stella was born.

He was 70. His wife was 35, except she wasn't really his wife, not legally, because he was married to someone else. Like Stella said: He was a character.

Pierce died seven years later, leaving Stella with only fragments of memory. Like staying with him at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where he was the resident Santa Claus. Or seeing him in his Civil War uniform for Memorial Day parades.

Later, when she was grown and married and had kids of her own, she would sometimes share those memories in conversation. She told her youngest child, Barbara, that she wished she knew more about her dad.

She told the right person. Barbara Case has a master's degree in library science from the University of California Berkeley and worked for 30 years as a research librarian at California State University Los Angeles. She knows how to navigate rivers of information.

So that's what she did, wading into one of the busiest genealogical streams in the country. People everywhere take pride in their ties to the Civil War.

In San Diego, there is a group for women whose ancestors fought on the Union side and one for women whose relatives fought for the Confederacy. (Organizers who invite both groups to the same event sometimes station them on opposite sides of the room, just in case.)

There are separate organizations here for the men, one Union and one Confederate. All four groups usually get together on Memorial Day for a ceremony at Mount Hope Cemetery.

“I always feel like you owe something to these ancestors,” said Susan Zimmer, president of the local Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War branch, which celebrated its 100th anniversary earlier this week. “They did something that was pretty brave, went through some pretty terrible times. I think we need to respect that.”